This is a continuation in part of provisional patent application 60/030021, filed Nov. 1, 1996.
This invention relates to greeting cards, in particular, to transparency mat cards.
Greeting cards are used to commemorate special occasions, such as birthdays or weddings, or to express particular emotions, such as appreciation and thank you or sympathy and apology. To carry out their function, greeting cards sometimes have special messages printed on the inside or outside of the card. Other cards are without greeting, allowing the sender to inscribe a message.
Presently, there is a variety of art greeting and note cards on the market. These cards range in quality and originality from original photographs and artwork to prints or reproductions of original photographs, paintings, drawings, or other artwork. Each original or reproduced work may be individually glued onto a piece of card stock with or without a debossed or embossed border. Each picture may also be glued onto the front board of a two-piece card stock which has been hinged along one edge or onto the back board of the folded card stock with a window on the front board. Sometimes a folded inside cover sheet is used to display the picture. Prints or reproductions may be placed on a single piece of card stock or on the front board of a two-piece card stock. All of these art originals, prints or reproductions can be viewed only from the front and must be well lit to be seen.
As it relates to greeting cards, this invention has the following objects:
To provide distinctive and unusual greeting cards that are economical, high quality, aesthetically appealing, fine art originals, and original reproductions, as well as "make-your-own" cards which will allow users to become their own "artist." These cards would also include artwork based on small animation cels, high-quality dye-sublimation computer printed cels, and original or photographic digital transparencies, as well as analog photo or original transparencies and regular offset photo or original transparencies.
To provide distinctive and unusual fine art greeting cards which can have various reuses after being used as a greeting card. These reuses include, but are not limited to, use as a framed picture or a transparent window stick-on decoration, a mobile, Christmas ornament or earring. Reuses might also include the decorations for card games, shirt "glue-ons," bathtub stick-ons, tattoos, transparent candy confection pictures, and processed fruit preserves rolls (sometimes sold under the trademark "Fruit Roll-Ups") in a cellophane wrapper.
To provide greeting cards that have original prints or reproductions that not only can be viewed from the front in good lighting, but can also be viewed from behind and from side angles with back or side lighting. These greeting cards may also be viewed from various angles in dim light, in which case the pictures take on an opaque yet translucent appearance.
To provide fine art greeting cards that can be easily and economically manufactured and mass produced.
To provide a product which could also be sold to the user as a do-it-yourself kit for making unusual original, individualized greeting cards. This kit might include mat cards, transparency film, a camera capable of taking photographs for the appropriate sized transparency for the cards, and glue. Another type of kit could include a mat card, blank transparency and glue so that users could create their own design on the card.